sway--the family of the fallen Incas.

I shall have to tell more fully, in the course of my narrative, the
beautiful legend, for so I may call it, regarding the origin of the
Incas; how they appeared suddenly among the ignorant inhabitants of
Peru, claiming to be the children of the Sun, and, gathering their
scattered tribes together, formed them into one people, and gave them
laws and institutions, and brought peace and prosperity to the land,
which continued till the Spaniards arrived, and, with unexampled
treachery and cruelty, overthrew their monarchy and reduced the people
to abject slavery and misery. The Indians around us were nominally
Roman Catholics; but though they conformed openly to the ordinances of
that Church, and partly believed in the power assumed by its priests,
they pertinaciously retained many of the superstitions of their
ancestors, and practised their rites in secret.

Having given a brief account of my family, and their position in the
country, I must begin to unwind the thread of my Tale. We were seated,
as I have said, in our sitting-room, gazing on one of the most
magnificent of Nature's spectacles--the setting sun. The younger
children were playing about the room, while my sister Lilly and I, with
our father and mother, were seated near the open window. We were
talking, I well remember, about our distant home, when our conversation
was interrupted by seeing a man leap over the wall of the court-yard,
and rapidly approach the house.

"Who can he be? What brings him here?" exclaimed my mother, while my
father rose to make inquiries on the subject.

Scarcely had she spoken, when the door was thrown open, and the person
we had seen rushed into the room. He was a tall man, of well-knit,
active frame, and though he looked travel-stained and weary, there was
something in his appearance and manner which betokened that he was not
an ordinary being. His complexion was dark, though scarcely darker than
that of a Spaniard; but the contour of his features and the expression
of his countenance showed that he belonged to the Indian race. His
dress was simple, consisting of a pair of trowsers, and a shirt of the
cotton cloth of the country, of a dark blue colour; a poncho of alpaca
wool covered his shoulders, while a sash was fastened round his waist,
and his feet were protected by sandals, fastened on by leather thongs.
He threw himself on the ground before my father, who went to meet him,
and